


Lesson Learned

by SnugglePuppyBoi



Category: Original Work
Genre: Amputation, BDSM, Bad BDSM Etiquette, Blow Jobs, But also hot cocoa, Decapitation, Drooling, Dubious Consent, Dubious Ethics, Gore, Guro, M/M, Mixed Character, Painplay, Queer Character of Color, Which I only mention because it makes me happy as a mixed person, Wound Fucking, incubus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:02:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25418140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnugglePuppyBoi/pseuds/SnugglePuppyBoi
Summary: Alex is an incubus whose summoning information gets passed around as a nasty prank due to the extreme nature of his interests. Luckily for humans, he's genuinely benevolent--for a demon, at least. When his latest summoner proves he should have known better than to trust his fate to a random demon, Alex decides a little lesson can be learned from the experience.That's the plan, anyway.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 16





	Lesson Learned

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Content warnings are in the tags! Stay safe and have a pleasant read.
> 
> Some mistakes and a continuity error have been corrected. Thank you to the person who pointed them out to me.

Swirling one finger around the thick rim of his mug, Alex watches as a perfectly fluffy tower of whipped cream materializes on the top of his hot cocoa. His hand passes through it without contact, ghost-like, and he smiles when finely crushed bits of peppermint candies appear across the whipped cream like a light dusting of snow on a peaceful winter's day. Perfect. Drawing his hand back, he takes a deep breath, the soothing scent of cocoa and peppermint filling his lungs. 

He would say “Today is a good day,” but there isn't really a today. Currently he exists outside of time, though he keeps his sub-reality loosely tethered to the steady flow of time in the human realm. 

Human language is imprecise in referring to situations like his. There's a basic demonic phrase, translating most directly to the English “This place is a good place,” but with a connotation most similar to “Now is a good time,” minus the pesky temporal reference. Alex rarely uses this phrase. Whether one thinks of it as time long past or a distance well traveled, Alex prefers to rely on human language and human understandings to convey himself. 

And human hot cocoa to pass the time while he reads over a human anatomy book at his dining room table in the house he's modeled after one from the current earthly timeline he's attached to. 

For all its many, many failings, humanity is an endlessly charming fascination to the incubus. 

Picking up his mug, his eyes flutter shut, shoulders slumping, at the pleasant warmth radiating through the black ceramic. Without opening his eyes, he brings the mug to his mouth, eager for the delicious taste of--

The air around him crackles as a second life-form enters his sub-reality. With a mournful sigh, he sets his mug down. A human. He's not upset that a human's called upon him—humans are his food source, after all, and he's never been one to turn down a meal—but he can't say he's very happy that one's interrupting his date with a perfect mug of peppermint hot cocoa. 

Flicking a finger towards it, he suspends it in its current state, picture perfect and maintaining the same blissfully hot temperature. Technically he could just finish his cup now, could take as much 'time' as he wanted while the human waited entirely unaware in the entrance hall. True time doesn't exist here, but the illusion of it does and it obeys his every command. If he wants the human to perceive their wait as seconds or as years, he merely has to will it. 

But he'd rather save the cocoa for after he's gotten an actual meal in him. Marking his place in the anatomy textbook on the table, he rises to his feet and crosses to the entrance hall in two steps. The human can't see him, can't see anything but a thick, inky blackness that obscures the actual hall and everything in it. Alex likes to keep his humans guessing. Especially the new ones. 

He sees the human in question—young, healthy, conventionally attractive—and grimaces. 

“Well, well, well,” Alex drawls, dryly. The human stiffens, head swinging in the direction he perceives Alex's voice as coming from. There's a frown on his face, confusion and eagerness and hesitation clear even to a demon like Alex who can't read the air. “Who gave you my summoning information, exactly? I think you need to have a talk with them.”

The human swallows hard. “Is there... something wrong with it?”

“Oh, no,” Alex says, easily. His tone is carefully blank, just barely bordering on a disappointment he would default to regardless of if he felt it or not. He lets himself become visible through the blackness, walking the short distance to stand in front of the human. “The information seems to be fine. You're here, aren't you?”

The human blinks. He really is attractive, Alex thinks, disappointment increasing. Mixed race (Afro-Arab?) with strong, classically masculine features softened by an open, expressive face. Tall and just on this side of muscular too, dwarfing Alex's preferred human appearance and making him look like more of a twink than he usually did. 

“That's true,” he says, slowly. He gives Alex a shaky smile. A nice voice too. Disappointment bubbles into frustration. How many times was this going to happen? “I was just confused when I couldn't see anything.”

“That usually won't be a problem regardless of if you flub the summoning a bit or not. Either the demon doesn't want you to see or can't see themselves.”

“Oh.” The human's smile falters. “That's good to know.”

It's some sort of first time, Alex knows. Either his first time summoning an incubus or, more likely, his first time summoning a *cubi or a demon in general. The human looks adorably awkward, unsure of the protocol and put off by Alex not meeting whatever expectations he'd come up with for how this encounter was going to go. 

“You didn't answer my question. Who gave you my summoning information?”

The human blinks at him again, eyebrows furrowing. “Someone I have a class with. Is that... a problem?”

Yes. A major problem. Not even for Alex, but for the dumbass humans that _kept doing this._

Folding his arms across his chest, Alex leans back against the wall that the human can't see, giving him the most unimpressed look he can manage. Which, considering he's an incubus, master of emotional expression, is pretty fucking unimpressed. The human has the common sense to look embarrassed, a barely visible flush coming across his face. 

“You know, humans set up a handy demonic work catalog so you know exactly what you're getting into. You're American, right? The catalog is there more for your benefit than mine. Even if you want to take a recommendation from someone you know, you can reverse search anyone by their summoning information. Do you need me to show you how?”

“No, I, uh,” the human seems to realize Alex won't like his next words before he says them. “I know how to do that.”

As much as they increase his frustration, they also give him a tentative sort of hope that he knows he shouldn't trust. “Did you do that with mine?”

“No?”

Alex takes a deep breath. Humans. Closing his eyes, he settles on a plan of action.

The area they're in shifts away from the entrance hall and to the outside of the house. Alex starts walking in the direction of the garden, calling over his shoulder, “Follow me, please,” and expecting the human to obey him. Thankfully, he doesn't have to deal with any disobedience. He can feel the human following after him, steps cautious as he navigates an unyielding black expanse in which only the two of them shine through. 

Once they get into the garden proper, Alex lets the blackness fall away entirely. There's a sharp inhalation from the human, but Alex doesn't look at him to gauge his reaction, instead saying, “I'll be right back,” and heading to the walk a quick loop around the outer bounds of the garden. He could just will himself there, but finds that the walk is good for his state of mind. He's a little too upset with this one. 

To have the opportunity and knowledge to protect oneself, to instead trust yourself to the benevolence of a demon. It doesn't matter that Alex is one of the few genuinely benevolent demons when it comes to humans. It still frustrates something fierce. 

Loop finished, he starts the walk back. The human is standing where Alex left him, staring up at the dull, misty red sky above them. An imitation of the sky in the common demon realm, at a point where none of the stars had ascended into being. Or had all died out. It wasn't as if the two were distinguishable from one another. 

Back to the area Salem is, Alex catches the human's attention, waving him over. The way he trips over himself to comply is equal parts endearing and infuriating, a behavior he adores in a human but in a situation where he won't be able to enjoy it. 

Enjoy it much, at least. 

“What's your name?” 

The human blinks down at him. “Salem.”

“Salem,” Alex repeats. It's a good name. He likes the taste of it, likes the feel of it clinging to his tongue. “Very recently for you, there was a comprehensive change and update to laws regarding demonic activity and human consent. In this, something particularly relevant was established regarding situations like ours. Do you happen to know what exactly that is?”

Salem doesn't respond immediately, lips pressing tight together and face creasing. He seems to give it serious thought, something which earns him a few points in Alex's favor. 

Eventually he shakes his head, though, nervous and apologetic. “I've heard about it, but not enough to know that, I'm afraid.”

Alex sighs. Expected. “It established that a human legally consents to anything they can be reasonably expected to be aware of regarding a particular demon's services, provided those services are legal in the first place.” Alex smiles, blunt human teeth shifting to crowd his mouth as too sharp points. Salem gulps and Alex is living for it, living for intentionally inspiring fear in the heart of a human. “For example, if an incubus lists easily searchable services on the government run work catalog that include acts of extreme gore and non-permanent death...”

He trails off because he doesn't really need to say more, does he? 

Salem's eyes are wide, dark face paling to a sickly color. All he manages to say in response is the single word, “Oh.”

Alex lets his teeth settle back to normal, licking a stray trail of drool that's escaped from the corner of his lips. Despite his fear, Salem's eyes follow it. A terribly vain aspect of Alex's incubus nature preens. 

“My summoning information gets given out as a prank fairly often,” he says, motivated by the faintest stirring of pity for the misfortune of the human before him. “Normally I'd let you off with a warning and some information to be mindful of, but _you_. You really should have known better, Salem. You told me as much yourself. So how about I help you learn a little lesson before sending you on your way?”

Dark eyes stare into Alex's own, wary and mistrustful but considering. Alex doesn't much care either way. Legally, he has more than enough right to give this human a little blood, a little pain. Enough to scare him at the thought of just how much worse it could be. 

The corner of Alex's lips quirks up. There will be pleasure too, of course. Alex's pride as an incubus rests on his partners enjoying themselves, even when the experience is simultaneously terrible or terrifying. 

Softly, with the slinking deference of a beast to a more dominant member of its kind, Salem says, “Alright.” 

And, again, Alex doesn't much care either way. Regardless of what Salem's answer had been, Alex had every intention of giving out a lesson. 

It still gives him a spark of dark satisfaction to see such reluctant obedience. 

“Great,” Alex grins. His appearance softens, aura abruptly losing the edge of threat it had held before. Salem blinks, taken aback by the sudden change, but Alex grabs his hand before he can say anything, pulling him off in one direction. “Let's get you back on your way, then. A little detour and I'll send you home.”

As much as he's saying it to throw Salem off, he means it, too. All he intends to do is show Salem the pleasurable side of fear and tip the balance just far enough into fear's favor to make the human think twice the next time he gets the wild idea to call up demons without any clue what he's doing. Something light and fun for Alex, a snack to make up for the inconvenience, and something the human won't soon forget for Salem. 

Alex draws out the walk to the night garden, leading Salem to the lone white marble bench that marks the transitional point from the maintained area of the garden to the parts that ran entirely wild. All around them are plants from just about every realm Alex has visited. The earliest among them had been specially chosen for magical, medicinal, or aesthetic value, though most had been added on a whim, left to live or die by the will of the garden itself. 

Motioning Salem to sit down on the bench, Alex thinks through the myriad difference options at his disposal. Salem is watching him like he isn't sure if Alex is going to bite or ask him about the weather. Which, to be perfectly fair, is completely reasonable to suspect either way. 

Before doing either, of course, Alex needs to kiss him. 

For whatever reason, call it a disability or a gap in power, Alex can't read the air the way most of his kind can do effortlessly. He feels hints, vague indications towards emotions, but he can't be sure if that's normal perception or not. Instead, he needs intimate contact to sort through someone's fears and desires. Kissing isn't the only way he can do it, but it's one of his favorite methods. 

All the warning Salem gets is a hand on his cheek, thumb tracing his cheekbone, before Alex leans in and kisses him. Salem tenses but when all Alex does is kiss him, languid and soft, he relaxes into it and responds. 

Chest rumbling with a not-quite purr, Alex sinks into the connection between them, navigating a sea of Salem while he deepens the kiss. Salem responds readily enough, coloring his emotions with a deeper shade of desire. Desire that, when Alex peers into it, reflects himself back again like moonlight on the water. Almost flattering if it wasn't so expected. 

It's what's underneath it that he finds more interesting. Scraping the bottom of Salem's desire he notes the specific things the human wants most, feels Salem gasp when he sends them flying like silt and scum disturbed in a pond. 

And what he finds there...

Pulling back, he barely pays attention to the way Salem tries to follow after him or the hunger in his dark eyes. In comparison, those everyday signs of arousal are boring. 

“I might have lied to you,” Alex says after a brief pause. “Unintentionally, but works out the same, doesn't it?”

It takes a moment for Salem to process. He swallows. “Lied?”

Neither of them pretend that the resulting baring of teeth is a smile on Alex's part, however amused the incubus may be. “The lesson you're going to learn is going to be harder than expected.”

“Harder?”

“Hmm,” Alex nods. Cheery, he says, “Wait here for me. I have to go grab something.”

With that, he leaves Salem sitting anxious and obedient on the bench and starts towards the shed. Salem's gaze burns like a branding iron into his back. Alex smiles. Excitement of a wholly different sort than before, untouched by the previous irritation and exasperation, is beginning to bubble through him. This is going to be fun. 

It's not often he misjudges humans, but it does happen. Incubus experienced enough to have witnessed the Great Culling or not, he isn't infallible. How tremendously boring life would be if he was. 

Reaching the shed, he grabs the bag he wants from inside it and heads back to where Salem is still waiting. Other than moving his head to track Alex, he doesn't even seem to have shifted place. Cute. Alex wonders if that's intentional or just Salem's natural reaction. Either is endearing. 

The bag is set beside Salem on the free half of the bench, Alex moving back in front of the human. 

“Legs apart,” Alex orders, dropping to his knees. When Salem doesn't immediately obey, he taps the human's thigh, clucking impatiently. With a vaguely scandalized look, Salem stiffly complies. Alex doesn't tell him that a *cubi on their knees is so painfully ordinary a sight it isn't worth noticing. 

(Not that Alex would take well to _not_ being noticed right now. If Salem was stupid enough to do that there would be more than one lesson to learn today.)

He doesn't waste time playing around. Quick work to unbutton and unzip Salem's jeans, drawing his cock out and letting out a pleased sound while he gives the cock itself a once over. Pleasant to look at, perfectly average in size, circumcised, a few shades darker than the lovely brown making up the rest of Salem's skin. Salem makes a choked sound when Alex curls his fingers tighter around him, leaning in to press a kiss against the head of his cock with mocking tenderness. 

“Look through the bag,” Alex instructs, “Tell me when something catches your eye.”

And then he smiles at him, sweet as sugar water, before swallowing Salem down to the root. Salem hisses, flinching, and Alex pushes a hand beneath his shirt, stroking soothingly at the skin there. 

From there, Alex lets himself float in the awareness of Salem's emotions and desires while working Salem's cock with only half his mind focused on the task itself. After a few moments, one of Salem's hands finds its way into Alex's hair, hesitantly fisting into black locks without making any move to use them to control Alex's movements. Not that Alex would mind that, if Salem was so inclined. 

When he feels Salem shift slightly, turning his torso to better face the bag, Alex rewards him with a pleased hum. It isn't long before the sounds of sorting through the miscellaneous items—the shift and twinkle and chime and thump of fabric and crystal and glass and stone—reach a pause. Alex knows Salem's found whatever it is meant to call to him, but waits until Salem clears his throat to pull back. 

What he sees when he pulls back pleases him immensely. Salem, looking remarkably awkward, holding a brilliant red length of ribbon about as long as his arm span and half again. There's some puzzlement to his expression too, a downward tick to the corner of his lips that Alex reads as confusion on why this, of all things, is what is undeniably calling out to him. 

Holding his hand out for the ribbon, Alex fights a smile at how reluctantly the human hands it over. “Found something you like already?” He rubs the fabric between two fingers. “I think you made a good choice, don't worry. What made you pick it?”

The question is more curiosity on if Salem has any conscious reason to give him. Some humans do, some don't, and being immune to the sort of magic involved leaves Alex eager to hear the experience of those who aren't. 

While he waits for Salem's answer, he locks eyes with him and swipes his tongue across the head of Salem's cock and the pre-cum gathering at the slit. 

Salem shudders and, skin too dark to flush red, darkens beautifully. Tearing his eyes away to look at the ribbon again, he swallows hard. 

“Uh... I think, just,” he hesitates. “The color? It's... it's pretty.”

There's something shy in the way he says “pretty”, like a child repeating a naughty word. Interesting, though Alex didn't have the time or desire to pursue just why that is. It isn't as if he'll be seeing this human again after this was seen to. 

“It's very pretty,” Alex agrees. “I'm glad you think so. I think it means you'll appreciate it more.”

“Appreciate it more?”

Bless the quiver in Salem's voice. “Hmm. You'll see. Now, let's just get some things out of the way aaaand,” their clothes vanish without flash or fanfare, “I can get back to sucking your dick.”

And Alex does just that. 

He doesn't use the ribbon immediately. That would ruin the fun. Better instead to let Salem's curiosity and nerves grow alongside his lust while Alex plays the part of attentive incubus. It's only when Salem makes the decision to cave into his lust (Alex would forgive any non-*cubi for thinking he was choosing his lust over his fear, though Alex knows that isn't the case) that he takes the ribbon in his right hand and brushes the silken fabric across his torso. 

Skin splits in its wake as if from a knife cutting its way out of Salem's body, blood rushing to the surface to answer the call of the ribbon's magic, and Salem gasps, flinching away to his right. Alex wraps his free hand around Salem's thigh, squeezing hard, wordlessly commanding him to settle. 

Another point in Salem's favor that he does, though his body is rigid with the desire to do anything but. The contrast between the desire Alex can read from him makes the incubus want to laugh with the dark satisfaction he always felt when he'd read a human correctly and discovered something they were hopelessly at odds with themself over. 

The first cut left by the ribbon is shallow, though it bleeds like a more severe wound. Alex barely brushes it over Salem's skin. The next one he leaves behind, dragging the ribbon down Salem's thigh, has more force behind it and cuts deeper. A nasty wound—if Salem had been in the human realm it would be a wound requiring stitches. 

Here, Alex can cause or heal any wounds he wants without the need for medical intervention. Which would make this encounter with Salem quite lovely if it progressed as Alex intended. 

He leaves cut after cut on Salem's skin, targeting different areas of Salem's body with no discernible pattern. And all the while he listens to Salem's desire, paces the cuts carefully around Salem's reactions to the blowjob, pushes those reactions to what he wants with tongue and suction and without any hint of teeth. Not once does Salem's erection flag and beyond the unconscious jerks and lurches away from the pain Alex is causing him, not once does Salem try to get away. 

It's in Alex's nature to adore humans and this one is a lovely example of some of the reasons why. 

Salem's body is covered in breathtakingly vibrant ribbons of red—pretty as Salem had said, soft and shy and unfamiliar—by the time Alex wraps the ribbon around his bicep. The thump of his severed arm hitting the marble bench, the cascade of blood that follows, the stutter in Salem's stifled gasps followed by his hoarse, panicked scream...

Pulling back from the cock in his mouth, Alex snaps his fingers, muting Salem's scream in his throat. The human is staring, pale and horrified, at his arm on the bench. It's all Alex can do to force his expression into frustration when what he feels is absolute delight. 

He clears his throat. When Salem doesn't seem to notice at all, he reaches up to take firm hold of his chin and forces his head towards him until their eyes meet. Salem flinches.

Voice icy, Alex says, “You're being really rude right now, Salem. I think you should apologize.”

The look that crosses Salem's face when he tries to speak and no sound comes out... The fear and realization and borderline betrayal, all directed at Alex, all meshing perfectly with his lust instead of souring it or destroying it. A very rare breed of human. 

“No apology?” He sighs. “Well, if you're going to interrupt me, you might as well do it for me, hmm?”

Taking up the ribbon again, he gives Salem an amused little smile, leaning forward to flick its frayed end across the sharp line of Salem's collarbone. Red blooms against brown, poppies in a field of rich, dark soil. Alex kisses the blood away, lets the metallic taste of it draw forth a little more of his true self. Salem shudders, pressing forward.

Sweet, sweet boy. 

Salem's eyes are shut when the ribbon lifts from Alex's hand to circle around his throat, not touching but floating in the air, ends folded over one another to form a complete circlet around him. Alex's fingers smooth over Salem's bare sides, like petting a beloved dog's flanks. Nipping at an undamaged bit of skin, his hands creep higher, edging towards the ribbon's ends. 

“You make it so hard to stay mad at you, treasure.” His right hand grasps the left end of the ribbon, his left grasping the right. Salem's eyes remain closed. Alex kisses him again, chaste and gentle, this time on his cheek. “I wonder if you'll be mad at me?”

Salem's eyelashes flutter but his eyes remain closed. Just as the ribbon is pulling closed around his throat, the circlet getting smaller, he whispers, “I won't--”, the end of his sentence cutting off into a choked gurgle as magic cuts deep, severing his head from his neck. 

His eyes do fly open at that, switching back to an expression of horror once again. Alex prevents his head from toppling and falling to the ground with a single thought, fists his fingers into Salem's short curls and moves it away from the stump of his neck, enjoying the contrast of his pale skin against the dark of Salem's hair and the bright, bright red spilling to cover more and more of Salem's skin.

Though nothing but strangled sounds comes out, Salem's lips move, trying to shape words. Holding Salem so they're face-to-face, Alex smiles at him, honey sweet. 

“Talking isn't going to be your strong suit for a bit,” he says, a hint of teasing to his tone. “But that's okay. Your mouth's about to be busy anyway.”

Eyes widen further. Though the word itself doesn't form, Alex can plainly read Salem's “What?”. 

Instead of answer, Alex grabs Salem's cock in his free hand, purring to himself when he finds that, though he's softened somewhat, he's still hard, and setting Salem's head between his own legs. 

“Mouth open,” Alex orders. When Salem doesn't immediately obey, he briefly lets go of his cock to force his mouth open with his fingers, before feeding the erection inside. Salem's body flinches and there's another strangled gurgle from his head, but both are easy enough to interpret. 

“Rules here don't work how they do in your world,” he reminds him. “If I want you to feel yourself even when you're in pieces, that's what happens. Pretty cool, right?” Not expecting a response, he rocks Salem's head forward, forcing more of his length inside his mouth. “I suggest you use your tongue, sweetheart. Quicker you get yourself off, the quicker I put you back together.”

Thanks to Alex's dominance over his sub-reality, he knows the exact moment Salem awkwardly complies with his suggestion. The incubus feels absolutely warm and fuzzy inside at it, the clumsy, unsure movements of Salem's tongue, the horror he feels for the situation mixing indistinguishably with the pleasure of it. Alex may be a rare breed of incubus—few other *cubi find the same degree of pleasure in the same degree of gore or pain—but he doubts there's any member of his kind that wouldn't find a human like Salem absolutely delightful. 

Whatever their tastes were, all *cubi came into existence with the taste of humans in their mouths, even those like Alex who'd existed far, far from the birth of the first humans into their world. Far from the birth of the human realm at all. It was impossible to describe to anyone but another *cubi why humans were endlessly fascinating, endlessly lovable, why *cubi like Alex had killed more humans than they cared to count but maintained a special adoration for each and every one. Humans were their food, humans were their lovers, humans were their purpose. 

Alex reaches down with his free hand, strokes himself slowly as he coos affectionately to Salem between moans. He increases the pace at which he rocks Salem's head back and forth in accordance to the build towards Salem's climax and, when it hits, shudders and lets out a little gasp while Salem coughs and sputters on his own cum. 

Turning his human's head around, Alex breaks into another not-quite purr at the sight: a lovely face, dark cheeks smeared with blood, saliva and cum leaking from his lips and the bloody stump at the end of his neck, eyes wide and dazed. Alex kisses him messily, lapping at the area around his mouth clean. 

“Lovely,” he sighs, free hand still moving on his cock. “Beautiful, pretty little treasure. Now you're going to help me and then I'll put you back together, my gift.” A quirk of the lips and no self-consciousness in sight. “Won't take long, scout's honor. Blink once if you're ready, twice if you need a moment.”

Salem blinks once, slowly, expression ruined and anticipatory. Giving him one more chaste kiss on the lips, Alex stops masturbating, instead focusing on propping Salem's head on the bag on the bench, fussing with the angle for a moment before smiling at him with too many teeth and rising to his feet. Wonderful to be able to see Salem's confusion when Alex ignores his head, instead grabbing his body. 

Confusion up until the point Alex is lining his cock up with the cleanly sliced opening of Salem's esophagus, and then there's just a new wave of horror when he sinks into the soft, spasming warmth. The horror has a flavor of expectation to it. Alex can imagine Salem's thoughts, the “Of course, _something else_ ,” and Alex loves the human even more for it. 

Good. After all, Alex had been thoughtful enough to arrange Salem to have a clear view. 

Salem keeps making little choked noises, mouth swallowing convulsively in a vain attempt to ease the strangeness of the feeling coming from his body. The sounds are beautiful. Fucking into Salem's esophagus, Alex wonders if Salem has given any thought to the fact he isn't feeling near as much pain as he should considering everything that's going on. Not that Alex blames him if he hasn't. He has every right to be a little distracted right now. 

Alex keeps his word, setting a quick, brutal pace that has him coming in what should feel like only a minute or so to Salem. He knows that, in the meantime, he must be quite a sight. Can feel Salem's awe at just how much Alex is drooling and how _loud_ he's being—both of which, to be fair, are significant enough for Alex to warn on his work catalog profile. Something Salem would know if he'd bothered to look Alex up before summoning him. Well, it isn't like Salem feels particularly upset about either. 

Most of his cum ends up inside Salem, though he does pull back towards the end to paint the pretty red stump attached to Salem's body. Which gives him a fun little idea just in time to uphold his end of the bargain and put the human back together. 

Smearing the cum into the open wound, Alex reaches over to ruffle Salem's hair before lifting his head and plopping it back on his body. Indulging in a few final theatrics, Alex snaps his fingers to trigger the two body parts to heal back. Healing around the semen smeared there isn't pleasant—Alex hadn't intended it to be—and Salem makes a noise too hoarse to be a scream, crumpling forward and attached hand flying up to his throat. 

Oh, right. Alex reattaches the severed arm with another snap of his fingers. Salem is too busy panting down at the grass to appreciate it. Alex waves the bag back to the shed and sits beside him on the bench, patting the human's back through the worst of it. 

When Salem finally sits back up, wincing around a cough, he gives Alex an anxious look. Alex wishes he could still read him beyond just recognizing facial expressions and body language. 

Cheerful, he says, “And you're all done! Now, next time you want to summon a *cubi, what are you going to do first?”

A few seconds before Salem hesitantly says, “...Look... look up their information?” 

“Absolutely!” Alex's grin looks perfectly human this time around. “See, a little lesson doesn't hurt anyone! Not permanently, at least.”

“Um.”

Alex hops to his feet, holding a hand out to help pull Salem up. He complies. “Now, I'll get you back to... wherever you were when you summoned me.” The surroundings shift around them back to the entrance hall. Both of them are clean again, wearing their earlier clothing. “If you'd like you can take some time and talk things through with me in my kitchen, but if you'd rather not, I'll get you back to your reality. I'd suggest you spend some time with someone and take it easy for a day or so.”

Salem bites his lip.

Alex continues to smile up at him. Pitching his voice down, like it's a secret, he adds, “I have peppermint hot cocoa and cantaloupe.”

Salem's lips twitch. “I wouldn't mind some cocoa, if that's okay?”

Another shift to the kitchen. Alex's previous hot cocoa is still on the table next to his anatomy book. With a thought, it duplicates into two perfect cups of hot cocoa. Alex herds Salem into a seat before retaking his own. 

“Cocoa it is!” he says. Hot cocoa was always better after a meal. 

~*~

They chat for a bit before Alex sends Salem home. Salem has a vaguely dumbstruck expression throughout the entire thing. Alex feels a little sad that, lesson learned, he'll never see Salem again. 

Like after every meal, Alex pays more attention to the passage of time in the human world. Two days after the day Salem had summoned him, Alex is summoned again by a frequent summoner and they make a wonderful time of it. No one else summons Alex until a month later. 

He's in his insect room, feeding his various pets, when he recognizes the familiar presence. 

Salem.

In an instant he's in the entrance hall with him, hiding the puppy-dog excitement he always feels for returning summoners but especially _this_ returning summoner. Salem smiles at him, looking almost as nervous as the first time around, and before Alex can figure out what to say, says, “Alex?”

Alex blinks before grinning like an absolute maniac. Salem knows his name. “That is I. Hello, Salem.”

Unnecessarily, Salem says, “I, uh... looked you up this time.” He pauses before snorting and adding, “I can't tell if how you wrote your interests is purple prose or explicit pornographic filth if I'm being entirely honest, but it would have, uh, been a nice thing to know. Last time.”

“And this time?”

Dark eyes widening, caught between embarrassment and panic, Salem says, “I was, uh, hoping we could talk? Maybe, uh, about how next time goes?”

Next time. A new frequent summoner. 

“Yeah, sure,” Alex says, easily. “I'll make cocoa.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'd appreciate it if you left feedback if you feel up to it. 
> 
> I've written gore and guro before, but this is the first thing I think I've written with explicitly sexalized gore. A little nervous how it turned out since I rarely post my stuff publicly. 
> 
> Also this has some big unintentional similarities to my last posted story, Applied Pressure. And in general a lot of my Ao3 stories involve demons despite me rarely writing them. Huh.


End file.
